Joe All Alone

£6.99

Joe doesn’t really like Dean. His mother’s boyfriend isn’t too keen on Joe either. He is quick to urge Joe’s mother that Joe is old enough to stay in the flat alone, while they head to Spain. It will only be for a week, there’s £20.00, he’s old enough to cope as ‘Joe All Alone’- as long as he doesn’t tell anyone or answer the telephone……

Nine hours of screen time and cereal for tea begins to pall with Joe when his Mum doesn’t call. There are no postcards either, and the neighbours start to enquire. When Asha, a new neighbour, begins to show an interest, Joe starts to open up. He needs to, for the week has ended and his Mum hasn’t returned.

This story reverberates with heartbreaking anxiety, truth and loneliness. We count the days, the meter and the money with Joe, sharing his desperation. Joanna Nadin has created an outstanding story, eminently readable and compelling, recommended to any reader with purpose and feeling, aged from 12 years.